Malawi commemorates
Global Day of Action for
Child Survival 2013
Pupils from Mwatibu, Nathenje and Mchuchu primary schools descended on Mwatibu
Primary School on Tuesday, 29 October 2013 where they staged various perform-
ances in commemoration of this year’s Global Day of Action for Child Survival in Ma-
lawi.
About 500 pupils from the three schools recited poems, sang songs and performed
different traditional dances in a bid to capture the attention of policy makers and
community leaders on the importance of prioritising child health.
Speaking on behalf of her fellow children, Evelyn Kachemwe, a standard 7 pupil at
Mwatibu primary school, commended government for addressing under-five mortality
in the country but called for more efforts to consolidate the gains registered so far.
“Honourable Deputy Minister, my fellow children have asked me to thank your gov-
ernment for your efforts in addressing issues of child health. However, we would like
to call upon government to address issues of newborn health as well so that babies
too benefit from improvements that the country has achieved.”
Tuesday, 29 October, Mwatibu Primary School,
Nathenje, Lilongwe
Picture 1: Evelyn making a speech on behalf of all children
Picture 2: School pupils expressing themselves on issues of child survival through song and dance
Kachemwe also called on all stakeholders
to prioritise child nutrition so that malnu-
trition is reduced.
“We would also like to call upon tradi-
tional leaders, community leaders and the
general public to address issues of child
nutrition. Nutrition plays an important
role in ensuring that children grow into
productive members of our society.”
The Deputy Minister of Health honour-
able Chikumbutso Hiwa, who was the
Guest of Honour at the event, reiterated
government’s commitment to addressing
issues that undermine child survival.
“Distinguished guests, the Malawi Govern-
ment will continue to put efforts to ad-
dress under-five mortality including new-
born mortality. I want to assure you that
Malawi continues to recognize the need
to invest in maternal and newborn care as
part of a broader strategy to expand ac-
cess to essential health services.”
Honourable Hiwa also emphasised that
government will continue to address child
nutrition as one way of improving child
health in the country.
“Government does recognize the impor-
tant role that nutrition plays not only in
child survival but also in children’s
ability to succeed at school now and
in their future endeavors. It is in this
context that in June this year, the
State President, Her Excellency Dr.
Joyce Banda made eight commitments
to promote nutrition at the Global
Nutrition for Growth Summit in Lon-
don.”
President Joyce Banda committed that
Malawi will develop a Nutrition Act
by 2016 and review the National Nu-
trition Policy and Strategy by Decem-
ber this year. She also committed
that government will increase the
proportion of total annual govern-
ment expenditure allocated to nutri-
tion from the current 0.1% of the to-
tal national budget to 0.3% by the
year 2020.
President Banda also committed that
nutrition will be mainstreamed in sec-
toral budgets which have a role in
fighting malnutrition including Educa-
tion, Health, Agriculture and Gender;
coverage of community based nutri-
tion services will be scaled up in all
districts at Traditional Authority and
Village level by 2016 and Community-
based Management of Acute Malnutri-
tion will be scaled up from 50% to
80% in all districts.
Picture 3: The Deputy Minister of Health, Honourable Chikumbutso Hiwa addressing the school children
Picture 4: Save the Children Director for Health Joby George making his remarks
Speaking earlier, Save the Children
Director for Health in Malawi, Joby
George congratulated the Malawi
Government for the enviable success
that it is registering in improving
child survival.
“It is heartening to note that Malawi
is one among the few countries that
have made significant achievements in
reducing under-five deaths. The re-
cent estimates published by the UN
inter-Agency Group have listed Ma-
lawi among the twenty-five countries
that have already met the goal of two
-thirds reduction in child mortality
rates by 2015.”
George however lamented the high
newborn death rate that the country
continues to experience and called
on government to swiftly move in to
address it.
“However, as child mortality rates
reduce, the challenge is increasingly
concentrated in the first 28 days of
life, the neonatal period. In Malawi,
newborn deaths account for up to 44
percent of under-five deaths. This is
unacceptable when we know that
most of the major causes of newborn
mortality are preventable.”
He asked government to start enforcing man-
datory newborn death audits as one way of
addressing this extra-ordinarily high neonatal
mortality in the country.
“While maternal death is unacceptable in our
country, newborn death is often not regarded
as a major loss in our society. If we continue
with this disposition, our efforts to improve
child survival will continue to be pulled back-
wards by high incidences of newborn deaths.
Honourable Deputy Minister, I call upon your
Ministry to enforce mandatory newborn death
audits in all health facilities just like the way
they do with maternal deaths so that high
level of attention is given to every newborn
death in the country.”
Joby George also asked government to
strengthen the implementation of pro-
grammes that promote child nutrition and to
provide sufficient health workers as additional
strategies to addressing child mortality.
“Increased funding for essential health care
and nutrition needs to be matched by ade-
quate investment in health workers, without
whom many key interventions cannot be de-
livered. A large number of countries, including
Malawi, fall below the World Health Organi-
zation’s recommended minimum ratio of 23
doctors, nurses and midwives for every
10,000 people.”
Picture 5: Pupils from Mchuchu primary school adding their voice on the day
The event was characterized by performances
of various traditional dances by school pupils
from the three participating schools. The
three schools also competed in a relay race
which symbolized the need to invest in child
health so that growing up should not be a
race for survival.
Nathenje Primary School won in the girls’
category while Mwatibu Primary School won
in the boys’ category.
The event marking the Global Day of Action
for Child Survival in Malawi was attended by
representatives from other partner organiza-
tions including Oxfam, World Vision Malawi,
Norwegian Church Aid, Reach Trust and the
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation
(CHRR). Senior Group Village Headman Ka-
mundi and Group Village Headmen Chiwowa
and Kachuli also attended the event.
In commemorating the Global Day of Action,
Save the Children released a report called
LIVES ON THE LINE: An Agenda for Ending
Preventable Child Deaths. This report contends
that as the world moves towards MDG4 and
mortality rates are concentrated in regional
and social groups, continued success will in-
creasingly depend on gauging progress against
a “triple bottom line”—the overall reduction
in mortality, equity and sustainability.
Picture 6: Relay race competitors getting set for the challenge
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